Kolkata, Bangalore rallyists take top honours at Mughal Rally

Rallyists from Kolkata and Bangalore took the top honours at the fourth Mughal Rally - India's first hill climb challenge - held in Jammu and Kashmir.

Around 120 rallyists from various parts of the country took part in the race from June 28-29 competing in four categories: Rally Xtreme (4X4), Rally Xtreme (Motorcycles), Rally Enduro (Car category) and Rally Enduro (SUV category). Rally Xtreme is an outright speed rush while Rally Enduro follows the Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) format.

The final results of the rally were announced Sunday.

In the final tally, S.K. Ajgar Ali of Kolkata with navigator Mustafa took the winner's crown in Rally Enduro (Car) driving a Mitsubishi Cedia. The duo tipped Subir Roy, also of Kolkata, with navigator Nirav Mehta, who were initially leading. Ajgar won with a lead of 30 seconds. Pawan Choudhry with navigator T. Nagarajan came third.

There was an upset in Rally Enduro (SUV) too. National TSD champion Satish Gopalkrishnan of Bangalore was leading with navigator Savera D'Souza, driving a Grand Vitara. On Day 2, Vishnu Singh, in a Maruti Gypsy, and navigator Adithya Anthony of Bangalore wrested the winner's crown from Gopalkrishnan with a lead of 30 seconds. Chandigarh's Jagmeet Gill with navigator Chandra Sekhar came third in a Maruti Gypsy.

In Rally Xtreme, Amittrajit Ghosh of Kolkata took the top honours with navigator Ashwin Naik in a Mitsubishi Cedia. He had a lead of two minutes over Amanpreet Ahluwalia of Team Terrain Tigers, Delhi, with navigator Sandeep Mansukhani in a Maruti Zen. Third came Abhishek Mishra of Jaipur with navigator Sudeep Haldar.

In the Rally Xtreme (Motorcycles), 2012 Mughal Rally winner Mohit Verma of Chandigarh retained his numero uno position with a lead of three minutes over Gurpinder Singh Sarao of Sangrur. Rajan Singh of Ludhiana stood third.

The rally traversed the difficult, less-travelled stretches of Jammu and Kashmir including the Gool Gulabgarh-Reasi-Ramban stretch and the difficult hill climb from Daksum to Sinthan Pass.

The prize money for each category was Rs.2 lakh for the winner, Rs.1.25 lakh for the first runner-up and Rs.1 lakh for the second runner-up.